Father and Daughter
by DAnNSfreak
Summary: Danny and Aiden are now married and they have a special person other than each other in their lives. Unfortunately, Tanglewood still has a score to settle with Danny Messer. Please read and review! I beg u!
1. Prologue

Hey, hey! Where have all the DnA fics gone! Season two has yet to premier in Malaysia (groan) so I haven't met ol' Monroe yet, so I'm still sticking to ol' Aid. Here's a DnA story for all those still interested, written by me and co-writer Jolene. As usual, in alternate chapters. I'm starting first, so if you'd rather read her chapter, shut this window immediately… But I hope you won't. Hehe…

This story can be Part 6 of 'In the-' series, but it makes no difference whether you read the past five installments or not.

Oh yeah, nothing about CSI: NY belongs to me… only Haylie. Please don't sue.

**Prologue**

Early morning in New York. The entire city is coming to life, its eager inhabitants off to make a living. Already the traffic is building up in the heart of the city, the result of those who get up extra early in effort to beat the jam, only to realize practically the whole working population of New York City has done the same.

Outside the man part of New York City however, is noticeably quieter. A certain neighborhood is particularly quiet, it is still early after all, still more than an hour to get to work.

The owners of the houses in this neighborhood are carrying on their usual business, fetching in the paper, eating breakfast, getting the kids ready for school, some still sleeping, and so on.

One particular house is no different.

Inside the master bedroom, birds are chirping their sweet little song outside the window sill; a light breeze is blowing in through the open window. The muffled sound of clanging pots and pans can be heard coming from the kitchen; a tasty breakfast will be served soon.

Those souls who are still asleep, and intend to stay asleep will miss it, too bad for _him._

That's right, him. In the house of three, only one is still sleeping. The only male in the house, the supposedly head of the family, the light brown haired, not so clean shaven, bespectacled man, Danny Messer.

He is still snoring away blissfully under the covers, taking full advantage of not having another body sharing the bed with him. Only a small patch of light brown hair can be seen.

Danny Messer's mind is still deep inside a dream, a pleasant dream, though he won't remember it when he wakes up. He was dreaming about scoring the winning homerun for the Yankees. Crowds cheering, confetti flying ect. ect.

So, it would be cruel to wake the dear guy up, but someone's gotta do it…

"DADDY!"

Small feet pattered on the floor, into the bedroom.

Before you could say anything else, a small scaled body landed heavily on Danny's back.

"Oof!" Danny gasped, instantly awake. If he had been a balloon, all the air would have rushed out of him already.

"Daddy, daddy, daddy!" the four-year-old kept screaming at the top of her voice, just in case her father did not wake up despite her jumping on him with such enormous force.

"Ok, ok! I'm up, I'm up!" groaned Danny, dragging himself to sit upright.

Squinting around for his glasses, he found them on the side table and put them on. Turning to look at his daughter, Haylie Messer, the pride and joy of his life, he murmured, "Your mother put you up to this…"

She got into sitting position and giggled her confirmation.

Danny smirked, "Now what did I tell you about following your mother's orders when it comes to waking me?"

She said slowly, "Uh… don't follow them?"

"That's right,"

But mommy said _you'd_ take me to Mc Donald's if I follow her orders," she said innocently, "And, she told me you always followed her orders…"

Danny cocked an eyebrow, "Oh, she did, did she? You know what I think?"

"What?" she asked cautiously.

"I think..." Danny pulled her close to him and started tickling her, "I think you deserve this!"

She began laughing and rolling this way and that uncontrollably.

Danny grinned, the best thing in life that has ever happened to him (other than marrying Aiden that is.)

Haylie reminded Danny a lot about Aiden. Her hair, which is the softest thing imaginable, grows the exact same way as Aiden's, though shorter. It was also the exact shade of dark brown as Aiden's. She even inherited Aiden's full and pouty lips.

Her eyes, however, takes after his own, a startling blue that just seems to sparkle in delight. She had both her parents love for science as well as their good humor.

Danny still remembered what a nightmare it was bringing Haylie into this world.

Aiden had awoken Danny in the middle of the night with slight tears in her eyes, "My water bag just broke… I think the baby's coming,"

Danny was immediately seized with panic. It couldn't be, Aiden was only 7 months pregnant, it was too damn early!

Danny had rushed Aiden to the hospital where she gave birth to a two month premature baby girl. The baby was immediately put into intensive care.

Danny's heart clenched in pain as he watched the scrawny little body with tubes attached all over her cling on to life.

Night after night Danny had sat beside the incubator praying and praying for his daughter.

Colleagues from work especially Mac, Stella, Flack and Hawkes offered all their help and support, coming to the hospital everyday to visit the baby and the recovering but worried-sick Aiden.

Whenever he was alone, Danny would stare at his daughter and imagine playing in the park with her, bringing her to school, just plain hugging and kissing her. All these thoughts would bring tears to his eyes.

After nearly two painful gut-wrenching weeks, the baby's condition finally took a turn for the better. Her weight rose to a healthy six pounds. The tubes were taken off her one by one. Soon, Danny and Aiden were allowed to take the perfectly healthy Haylie home.

As Danny looked down at the innocent girl giggling on the bed in front of him, he wondered vaguely what life would be without Haylie, without her laughter, her innocence and happiness, it just seemed so unreal.

"C'mon, go wash up," Danny said, nudging her up.

"Okay!" she grinned and leaped off the bed. The weekday schedule was always the same. Danny and Aiden will drop Haylie off at daycare and head off to work, then either one of them will pick her up after work if the other has an investigation going on.

Danny too took a quick shower, got into his work clothes, and headed downstairs into the kitchen.

* * *

Aiden Messer was bent over the stove, smiling as the pleasant scent of chicken mushroom soup wafted through her nostrils. She wasn't much of a 'lunch time' cook, but she was indeed the queen of breakfast, _especially _chicken mushroom soup.

Suddenly, a pair of arms snaked around her waist, hugging her. She then felt lips kissing her neck softly.

"Good morning, Danny," she said with a big grin.

He continued kissing her neck in reply. Aiden could feel the short bristles of his goatee rubbing gently on her skin. Shaving was one thing that Danny never bothered himself with, not like Aiden minded, really…

"Blackmailing our kid now, Aid?" he said.

Although he couldn't see her face, Danny knew that she was smiling, "It's not blackmail, it's called discipline. When you're supposed to wake up at a designated time, you do it. I'm just teaching her that,"

Danny muttered, 'Ouch…" and he continued to nuzzle her neck.

"Smells good…" he mumbled, after catching a whiff of the soup.

"Thanks. I think so too," she replied, smiling smugly.

"Aah… I could cook circles around you during lunch and dinner," he replied cockily.

Aiden turned around to face him and said, "We're not cooking circles, bucko, we're cooking _food_,"

Danny rolled his eyes, "Har har…"

With that, they started kissing, until a little voice piped up innocently, "will you two get a room?"

Danny and Aiden broke apart, somewhat amused and embarrassed. Aiden grinned and said, "Hey, I can't let you have daddy all to yourself,"

Danny grinned, happy from all this 'attention' and grabbed Aiden's half-full coffee cup and took a sip from it.

Aiden exclaimed, "Hey! Get your own damn coffee!"

Danny ignored her and took another sip. He nudged up his glasses further up his nose before lifting Haylie up and seating her on his lap.

"Did Uncle Flack teach you that?"

She grinned her toothless grin, "I have the right to remain silent and whatever I say can be used against me in court!"

Making up his mind to speak with Flack, Danny kissed her on the top of her head and said dismissively, "Ok, honey…"

The small Messer family then breakfast and soon they were headed out the door and off to another typical weekday.

Or not…

None of the Messer had noticed a black car parked a small distance away. Nor did they notice the suspicious looking person inside that car.

But he sure noticed them. He watched through binoculars as the three Messers got into the car and drove off.

He had to smirk, this was almost too easy.

'You'd be sorry you _tangled _with us, Messer… you'll be sorry…'

TBC.

Please review, it'll mean so much to me… thanks!


	2. Conflict and Comfort

Disclaimer: Not mine, never have been, never will be…

Okay, guys! Jolene's chapter finally up! Sorry you had to wait so long… busy with school work and all that stuff. (At this very moment, I'm actually typing to different things at once… this chapter, and my school folio… hehe…)

Enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review!

**Chapter 1: Conflict and Comfort**

"C'mon, Aiden… get up. You've had enough beauty sleep already," said Danny as he parked his silver SUV in the New York Crime Lab parking lot.

They had just dropped off Haylie at the daycare centre and Aiden had fallen into deep sleep on their journey to the lab. 'This'll is what happens when you sleep so late and yet wake up so early every day…' thought Danny wryly.

Danny shook her gently, "Aiden Burn, we have reached the crime lab," he said, trying to imitate his boss', Mac Taylor, voice, but failing terribly. Aiden merely grunted.

Danny pushed a lock of brunette hair away from his wife's face, revealing Aiden's beautiful closed eyes and full lips. Then, an idea struck.

"Aiden, honey, look! There's Tom Welling! What is HE doing here!" Danny exclaimed at the top of his voice.

As expected, Aiden jumped out of the seat, yelling, "Where! Where Danny? I want to see!"

"Thank God you finally woke up. I was just kidding, Aid… it would be hell in here if he actually did show up," Danny laughed as he replied with the truth. Aiden swatted his arm but Danny grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug as their lips locked.

"We better get going," said Danny as he checked his watch, "Mac's really going to kill us,"

It was already 15 minutes past 9… Danny was already in trouble with Mac this past week for getting to work late. Add the entire Minhas shooting incident that Danny was sure Mac still hadn't forgiven him for, and Danny thought he would be extremely miserable at work if it hadn't been for Aiden and Haylie…

Come to think of it… Mac was acting quite cold towards Danny these past few days. Danny always thought it was probably the Minhas incident, but nowadays, he couldn't help but feel that there was something else…

Something that is causing Mac to be angry at Danny… very angry…

Danny told no one about this, not even Aiden. He didn't want her to worry. He also didn't want to tell anyone in case he was wrong.

"Speaking of Mac, I dreamt about him like kinda trying to wake me up. I didn't see his face but I know he had a sore throat or something, judging from his voice…" said Aiden interrupting Danny's thoughts as they got out of the car.

Pushing his troubles to the back of his mind, he grinned.

"Why are you grinning, Danny?"

"Oh, nothing…" he replied, still grinning widely.

Aiden burst out laughing, and so did Danny. They were still laughing as they went into the building.

* * *

Danny was hoping not to bump into his boss the first thing in the morning but guess, what, he almost knocked into a frowning Det. Mac Taylor.

"Do you know what time it is, Messer?"

"Err… it's 9.20 in the morning. I know I late but I had trouble waking Aiden up," replied Danny, laying the blame as quickly as possible. However, Mac had no mercy for him.

"Okay. Aiden, you're excused. Danny, to my office now,"

* * *

Danny closed the glass doors of his boss' office and cleared his throat. He had better not do or say anything wrong as Mac is furious, he thought.

"Messer, it is the third time you've been late to work in a week. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry, _sir…_" said Danny.

Mac frowned, "Since when have you started calling me _sir?_"

Danny retorted roughly, "Since when have _you_ started calling me Messer, _sir?_"

They glared at each other. Danny was pissed that Mac was angry at him for reasons unknown and not telling him what.

Mac took a deep breath and said, "You used to be hardworking, Messer. But now, I'm afraid that you are slopping. I thought I have made the right choice hiring you. I was wrong,"

Danny flared up, "Just for coming late!"

Mac looked like he was going to yell at Danny, but he turned away while saying, "You have disappointed me. We shall not have this discussion again…"

Danny said, "I'm sorry, Mac. But I feel like there is something else. You're angry at me for some other reason. But you're not telling me what!"

Mac remained silent for a moment, then, "Get to work, now."

Danny detected the finality in his tone and wondered whether to argue, but he decided against it and headed out without another word.

* * *

Danny had to time to lick his wounds as he had a case with Stella. He stopped in the hallway to look for Stella but bumped this time into Aiden.

"What did Mac say?" she asked.

Danny managed a fake smile, "Nothing much… don't worry 'bout it,"

Aiden shook her head and said, "Got a case?"

"Yup. Homicide at 4th street with Stella. You haven't seen her have you?"

"Nah, I was in the lab all the time. Anyway, have a safe journey, ok?" said Aiden as she kissed Danny's cheek.

She pulled away as Mac approached them, "Haven't I told you, no mushy-mushy stuff in here?"

Aiden laughed as she said, "You will have to get used to this Mac. Oh, and Danny, you're picking Haylie today right?"

"Yeah… see you at home," Danny wasn't feeling that well. When Aiden was joking with Mac, he was smiling too, but when Danny caught Mac's eye just now and his smile just turned into a frown. 'What the hell is wrong with him?' thought Danny.

He walked out of the building to see Stella standing beside his SUV, "Are we ever going to get there?" she asked, a little annoyed.

Danny told himself, "This is going to be one hell of a day," not realizing how true that statement might be.

* * *

Danny yawned widely as he looked at his watch. 5.00pm. Time to pick up Haylie from daycare then head back home where Aiden, who would take the subway home after work, would wait for him and their daughter and have dinner together.

It had been a tough day, half because of the tough case; half because of all that Mac had said to him had been nagging on his mind all day.

After keeping his stuff in his locker, Danny then walked to the car park to his SUV.

He took the road that led to the daycare centre and went out to the gate and pressed the doorbell. The second the gate swung open, a loud cry of, "Daddy! You're early!" came ringing through his ears and his pride and joy leaped at him like a little thunderbolt.

Danny had crouched down, and gave his daughter a big hug.

"Daddy, daddy, are we going to Mc' Donald's? You promised me that you'll take me to get that toy!"

Danny slapped his hand on his forehead, "Oh, darn. Haylie, I'm kinda tired so no McD today, okay? Let's just go home," he said as he helped Haylie up the SUV and buckled her seatbelt.

"Okay, daddy!" she quickly said with a angelic smile that made Danny's day much brighter.

In the SUV during the drive home, Haylie pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and waved it in Danny's face.

"Daddy! Today Miss Westmore taught us how to sing Christmas carols for the Christmas concert. Both you and mummy must come ok? I want you to see how I sing!"

Danny smiled at his daughter and said, "Of course! We wouldn't miss our daughter singing for anything in the world."

"Yay! I love you, daddy!" replied Haylie happily as she gave Danny a peck on the cheek.

"Can I hear you sing now?" said Danny. Haylie put on a pained look, "Now, daddy? Okaaay…" and she started singing a popular Christmas carol, 'Frosty the Snowman'.

"Well, um… that was okay. But you could use more practice with Miss Westmore." Danny actually winced when Haylie started to sing. Haylie saw her father's facial expression and made a very Aiden-pout at him.

"I'd like to see _you _try, daddy!"

Danny couldn't help smiling at his daughter's resemblance to Aiden. The full pouty lips and brunette tresses just like his wife's. The only difference is that Haylie has his eyes, light sky blue that always sparkles.

He was brought back to reality with Haylie jumping up and down the car, "Sing, daddy! Please…!"

"You know, the only other thing I hate more than running is jumping. Sit please…" Danny said sternly.

"Come on, daddy… please?" begged Haylie as she settled back into her seat.

"Nah.. I don't think I will…"

"Daddy… please?"

"No…"

"I will tell mummy that you suck your thumb when you sleep!"

"Hey! I only did that on- wait… how did you know?"

"Sing a song, now, please, daddy?"

Finally Danny had to give in, "Oh… okay…"

"Yay!"

Danny cleared his throat, wondering what to sing, just to pacify Haylie. Something he could sing, not forget the lyrics halfway through, and definitely not a Christmas carol.

"Danny, what are you going to sing?" she asked impatiently.

"Err, you now what, it really doesn't matter what I sing as long as I sing, okay?"

"'Kay!" said Haylie as she perched herself on the seat next to Danny's.

Danny prepared for the worst, "_I'm gonna watch you shine, gonna watch you grow, gonna paint a sign, so you'll always _er… _know, as long as one and two and two-oo,"_ Danny had to wince himself as he tried to hit the note.

"Gee, daddy, you sound like a cat!"

"Oh, just let me finish… _there has never been a father who loves his daughter as much as I love you."_ Danny breathed a sigh of relief after finishing.

"Daddy, you know what?" Haylie exclaimed as Danny turned to face her.

"What?"

"That was totally, ut-terly rubbish, Danny. And by the way, one plus _one_ is two…" She had a little trouble pronouncing 'utterly'.

"Uncle Flack taught you that too, didn't he?"

Haylie nodded, "But daddy, all that I said cannot be used against me in court!" she said, all mixed up.

Danny pretended to roll his eyes and said, "Whatever, princess…"

As Haylie laughed, he pulled over at the 7 Eleven store to buy the M&M's he had promised Haylie a few days ago, as well as a copy of the New York Times.

"Haylie, make sure you lock the car door after daddy leaves, okay?" said Danny after kissing her on the forehead and getting out of the SUV.

"Yes, daddy…"

'I don't want to lose you, Haylie. I love you too much…' he thought to himself.

Danny went into the store. He had not noticed a black car in the distance-or a dark figure coming out of that black car walking closer towards Danny's car, and Haylie…

Danny stared at the shelf full of different typed of candy and chocolate in front of him. All of these reminded him of the times when he was young-getting chocolate for your birthday was counted lucky as chocolates were expensive at that time.

He snapped out of his thoughts as a scream shattered through the silence.

"Daddy!"

Danny totally forgot about the candy and newspaper and dashed out of the store towards his car. He found his SUV where he parked it but the front door was ajar and the passenger seat empty.

At that time, a million thoughts flooded his mind but only one word managed to escape his mouth.

"Haylie."

TBC.

Yay! Finished! I was getting tired of confusing 'daddy' and 'Danny' every time.

I've already finished writing Chapter 2, but I'll just post this Chapter 1 first, yah… keep you guys waiting on tenterhooks… muahahaha….

Reviews much appreciated! Let us know what you think!


	3. Missing

Disclaimer: Not mine, never have been, never will be. Haylie's mine, though.

Thanks for the sweet reviews! Much appreciated. Muahaha…. Gotta love nasty little cliffies… I got another one coming up… hehe… I just caught the premier of Season Two, so even more 'mood' to write. Enjoy! And don't forget to leave a review!

**Chapter 2: Missing**

Danny stared at the empty seat where Haylie was supposed to be. He felt numb all over, trying to process the information in his head, which seemed like it had been injected with one big shot of Novocain.

_The car doors were locked… _weren't they?_... he'd been gone no longer than 5 minutes… he heard Haylie scream… no one in sight… _

He looked around the street desperately. Who would take Haylie? There was no way Haylie would have unlocked the car door and went out alone. Haylie would never do that…

And that could only mean one thing, she was taken, unwillingly… but who would do this?

That's when Danny spotted a nail file on the ground, just under the open car door.

Just as immediately, Danny felt a horrible cold chill, kinda like someone just poured a bucket of ice-cold water on him.

Danny worked enough car-hijackings and robberies in New York to know that very few of these criminals knew how to use a nail file to unlock car doors. They more than often typically use crowbars, wires, pins, those kinds of tools.

But Danny knew a gang that makes sure all it's members have mastered the art of breaking into cars using a nail file…

"_Alright, pay close attention, Messer," said Robert Covay as he locked the open car door and slammed it shut. Then, he took a nail file and slid it in though the little gap where the car window sits. He fishes the file around for a second, then a soft 'click' was heard and he swung the car door open._

_The younger boys stared in awe at how easy Covay made it seem._

_17-year old Covay looked extremely pleased with himself as he locked the car up again and held the nail file out for Danny._

_Danny hesitated. He never wanted to be here in the first place… taking lessons on how to be a criminal!_

_All Danny did was play baseball with the boys and one day they dragged him to doing things that were far different from the sport that Danny loved so much. All the members own expensively modified cars, sniff coke, all kinds of stuff…_

_But he daren't disobey a direct order from Covay, who was 7 years older._

_Reluctantly, Danny took the nail file and did exactly as Covay had done._

_Shaking slightly, he moved the file here and there until he felt a kind of hook. He pulled upwards and felt the door unlock._

_The boys cheered loudly but Danny didn't feel the least bit elated._

_Covay took the file from him with a swift smile, "I think we can expect great things coming from you, Messer…"_

_Danny said nothing. He merely looked at the nail file in Covay's hand, glinting in the light._

As Danny held the nail file in his hand, he felt a vicious wave of anger coursing through his veins. There was only one word looming in his head right now.

Tanglewood…

He slammed the passenger door shut and went over to the driver's side. His only concern now was to get Haylie back home safely. He'd break every single Tanglewood boy's neck if he had to…

With that, Danny Messer drove off into the darkness.

* * *

Danny had already been driving around for nearly an hour. Every now and then he would glance up and down the street, hoping that he'll see a clue that could lead him to Haylie.

A Tanglewood boy walking around perhaps, or maybe Haylie herself managed to get away…

He knew he was being extremely stupid, possibly wasting precious time, New York City was huge … there was no way anything like that could happen.

'Why the hell are they doing this?' wondered Danny furiously. It's been years since his 'involvement' with Tanglewood and he thought he had heard the end of them.

Suddenly, the shrill sound of his cell phone interrupted Danny's thoughts, causing him to jump a little.

He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and stole a quick glance at the ID. His heart lurched as he saw the name 'Aiden' blinking on the screen. Damn it…

Danny hesitated for a long moment. What was he going to tell her? That he let their daughter be kidnapped right under his nose?

Unwillingly, he pressed the 'Accept' button and held the phone to his ear, "Hello?"

"Danny, is that you?"

"Uh, yeah, Aid…"

"Where are you? It's getting late… you guys should be home by now," she said, sounding worried.

"Uh, yeah… I, uh, got held up with a case," lied Danny.

"Oh? What about Haylie?"

"Haylie? She... uh… Stella invited her to stay over at her place, and so she did," Danny invented, "Stella will drop her off at daycare tomorrow,"

"Oh, okay…" said Aiden, sounding more relieved, "Weird. I thought Haylie said she wanted to spend tonight helping me out in the kitchen. We were planning to bake cookies…" she continued with a little disappointment in her tone, causing Danny's stomach to turn over in guilt.

"Maybe she forgot about it," muttered Danny.

Aiden replied, "Oh well, are you coming back soon?"

Danny paused, "Maybe not for another hour or so… I still have some stuff to check out,"

"Okay. See you then. Take care, love you!" she said.

Danny blinked back sudden tears as a wave of sadness came over him, "Love you too…" Shows how bad things are… Danny rarely cried.

Signing off, Danny sighed, now he was really in for it. He told a downright lie to his wife. And what was he going to do if he can't find their daughter within the next hour?

But after frantic driving for another 45 minutes without luck, Danny had to give up and drove home instead.

He soon reached their apartment and slowly unlocked the door and went in, thinking of ways to get through the night knowing that his daughter was in the hands of the Tanglewood Boys.

Not to mention without letting Aiden find out…

'Maybe if I'm lucky, maybe I can find the Tanglewood Boys and get them to hand over Haylie, unhurt, without Aiden knowing…'

He wasn't even going to tell Mac. 'When has he ever stood by me? Or ever have my back? He'll probably just yell at me at how irresponsible I had been,' thought Danny bitterly.

Plus, he doesn't want Mac to find out what Danny had to do with Tanglewood. Not after Sassone nearly ratting him out a few weeks ago.

But can he really blame Mac or anyone else for all that? Can he really blame Mac for being angry at him for reasons unknown? After all Danny had done… the Minhas incident, defying Mac's orders, lying to him… lying to everyone…

To his shock, he saw Aiden with her back to him, on the phone. And when he heard what Aiden was saying, he knew he was anything but lucky.

"No, _Stella. _Thanks very much. I'll handle it," Aiden hung up and turned to Danny with an unreadable expression on her face.

"I just talked to Stella. You _did not_ have a case to work on, Stella saw you leave after you two had wrapped things up, and more importantly, _Haylie _is not with her," said Aiden, her tone even but demanding.

Danny remained silent, his mind working furiously to come up with some miracle excuse that Aiden will believe. None came…

"Danny, where's Haylie?" demanded Aiden, in the same even tone.

They stared at each other in silence until Aiden asked again in a louder voice, "Danny. Where's Haylie?"

"She…" Danny hesitated, then decided on the truth, "She's missing. I can't find her anywhere,"

Aiden's eyes widened slowly, then she asked, "What do you mean, she's missing?"

Danny could definitely detect a quiver in her voice, "I left her in the car to get something… when I got back, she was gone…" he stopped, then said, "I think the Tanglewood boys took her…"

Aiden said nothing. She stared down at the floor of their apartment in shock, slowly allowing Danny's statement to sink in.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Her little angel, her pride and joy, in the hands of the gang that was supposed to be the next generation of Mafia… she didn't ask Danny how he knew who took Haylie, she didn't really care right now.

Suddenly, she felt Danny's hand on her shoulder. This gentle touch from her husband usually gave her a great sense of comfort and warmth. But not tonight.

His touch seemed to have erupted a new feeling in her, anger.

Anger so raw that she reached out and gave Danny a big slap on the cheek with all the strength she could muster.

She looked up in time to see Danny's head whip to one side through blurry vision; tears had flooded her eyes without her realizing too much about it.

"How could you!" Aiden heard herself scream, "How could you! Haylie gets kidnapped and you don't tell me!"

Danny said, "I didn't want you to worry…"

"Worry? How do you think I feel now?" she yelled, tears falling fast and hard.

"Danny, you should have told me earlier, instead of lying to me! We could have had more time to look for her," sobbed Aiden, "Danny, we are supposed to trust each other! And you're lying to me like everything is just fine while our daughter could be in big danger now?"

Aiden was so angry now, so angry that she started hitting Danny, "You have to get her back! Get-her-back!" she cried, giving him a hard whack on the arm per word, "Get-her-b-back…"

Out of nowhere, she felt Danny's strong arms suddenly wrap around her, pulling her closer to him.

Her arms stopped hitting him and fell limply to her side. She soon wrapped them around his waist and sobbed onto his shoulder, "G-get her b-back…" she sobbed.

Danny just held her tightly in his arms and Aiden felt her anger evaporating, only to be replaced by grief and sadness.

Then, Aiden heard Danny say over her shoulder, 'Honey, I know you're upset, I know you are angry. And I'm really sorry…"

They pulled apart slightly but still in each other's arms. Aiden could see that Danny's blue eyes had lost it's usual shine and were filled with tears instead.

"I'm really sorry…" he said again, a tear rolling down his cheek.

Aiden took a deep shuddering breath and said in a voice more high-pitched than usual, "I just don't know what I'd do without her, Danny… we nearly lost her once, I can't bear to lose her again…"

Danny out his hands on her shoulders gently and said, "Aiden, everything's gonna be alright. I just know it. We'll find Haylie together," he placed a hand on his wife's cheek and wiped a tear running down her face gently with a thumb.

"We'll get through this, okay? Haylie is a strong kid, she's smart, she's brave, and she'll hang on tight until we find her. I know she will," he continued.

Aiden asked softly, "You sure?"

Danny nodded, "Of course. Like I said, she's strong. Just like her mother."

Aiden looked up at her husband's sincere face, and had to crack a small smile.

"Trust me, everything's going to be alright. Now go to bed and get a good night's sleep. We'll look for her tomorrow morning," said Danny as Aiden nodded, her head nuzzled in her husband's chest.

After Aiden had gone to wash up, Danny began to clear up some of Haylie's toys. Just about then, the phone rang.

"I'll get it," said Danny as he ran to the hallway to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Look around, Messer," answered a sinister voice, "See anything missing? Or should I say, _anyone?_"

Danny's heart started thumping hard somewhere against his Adam's apple. He wanted nothing more than to get his hands on the owner of the taunting voice and tearing him apart.

Fighting to keep his voice calm, he said through gritted teeth, "Where is she?"

The voice laughed, "Very good, I know that you're not stupid…"

Danny shut his eyes, praying for patience as he demanded again, "Where is she?"

"Oh, in good hands, of course. If you want to keep her that way, you better come quick,"

"Alright… where are you?" Danny asked, his eyes snapping open.

The voice laughed again, "Oh, wouldn't you like to know…"

After a pause, the voice continued, "Tick-tock, tick-tock, better hurry, time's running out…"

There was a long silence, Danny was about to yell curses at the guy when he suddenly heard a new voice on the line.

"Daddy!"

Then, the line went dead.

_To be continued…_

Wowee… long chapter… lovely cliffie, don't you think? Muahaha…

Hope you enjoyed that, and please take a little time to leave a review, much appreciated!


	4. Developments

Disclaimer: Not mine, never have been, never will be.

Thanks for the reviews! And a huge apology for taking so long to update! Must have been months, eh? Whoops… so sorry… sheepish grin.

This is Jolene's chapter, got it? Jolene's!

Ok… we haven't been updating for so long and now our Tanglewood theory has been thrown out the window, thanks to Run Silent Run Deep. But too late to change… so just say that there's no Louie in the picture, okay? This story is our own theory about how Danny was involved in Tanglewood. (which turned out wrong… darn… ;-b)

**Chapter 3: Developments, or is it?**

Danny slammed down the receiver. He had known it all along. The Tanglewood Boys wanted revenge after what he had done, and they're not stopping until they have accomplished it.

They knew it was his weakest point, so they took Haylie away. After all that had happened in the past, the Tanglewood Boys wanted him to suffer.

The second Aiden stepped into the hallway, she knew something was amiss.

"Danny, who called you just now?"

Danny could not hold back his tears. His heart was about to burst into two, having all the feelings crammed in it.

"Aiden, it was the Tanglewood Boys. They took Haylie. I'm sure of it," replied Danny as he banged his fists on the table.

She knew that her husband was telling the truth. He would not lie about a thing like that. Although Aiden herself was feeling so horrible, she put on a strong, reassuring face. Aiden gave Danny a soft peck on the cheek. His forehead was cold and wet. His blue eyes had also lost all the glimmer they once had. Aiden squeezed his hand and whispered into his ear.

"Let's go to sleep, okay?"

Danny pushed up his glasses. "Okay."

But both of them knew that nothing in the world could make them sleep at a time like this.

Detective Mac Taylor had called his colleagues to the lab extra early that day. A teary eyed Danny had explained the story to them all, but he left a little stuff out, like why the Tanglewood Boys were involved. He hoped they won't ask.

Seeing Danny so broken up, all of them immediately resolved to help him get his daughter back, no matter what.

Even Stella got teary as Danny told his side of the story, while Hawkes and Flack offered their deepest sympathies.

Only Mac remained quiet and stony-faced. Something that Danny was quick to notice.

Mac turned to Danny and said, "Your house phone has caller ID."

It wasn't a question.

Turning to Stella, "We can get the number and trace it."

Stella nodded, "Yeah. Let's go. Coming, Danny?"

Danny nodded as well, and followed suit.

Soon they were crowded in front of the computer, with Stella typing away at the keyboard. Soon, she made it into the software, allowing them to locate where the caller came from with just the phone number provided by Danny.

"How did they get Danny's phone number and more importantly, why are the Tanglewood Boys after Danny?" asked Stella as she typed in the mystery number into the computer.

Flack asked, "Revenge? For getting Sonny Sassone into jail last year?"

Stella frowned, "That can't be… Mac and I were on that case. Not Danny…"

Feeling his body go hot, Danny quickly said, "There are a lot of possibilities. They could've just looked my number up in the phone book." He chose not to answer Stella's other question. He never told anybody about his involvement with Tanglewood and he hoped they won't find out…

"I don't think so," said Mac, but he did not elaborate.

Danny frowned, what did he mean by that?

Stella paused for a moment, and was about to say something but the computer suddenly beeped.

Stella leaned forward, "Damn… the number came from a pay phone…"

Mac asked, "The address?"

"Some deserted place out of town…"

"Bring out the map."

A few clacks from the keyboard, and a map of the area around the pay phone appeared.

"Funny… the area's deserted. Only an old abandoned junkyard said," Stella, "Previous owners were evicted 2 years ago…"

Mac said, "If they got Haylie to speak on that public phone, they had to be somewhere deserted," He pointed at the address on the computer screen, "That's where we need to be."

Flack said "I'll get a team together."

As they rushed out, Danny felt renewed hope.

Stella said, "Come on, Danny. Let's go find Haylie."

* * *

Soon enough, Danny, Mac and Flack, along with two patrol cars were careening down the road, sirens blaring, blazing through traffic.

Flack was driving the first patrol car, carving the path through New York's vehicle ingested street, leading the way. Danny and Mac had their own unmarked car to themselves which Mac was driving, expressionless, eyes focused on the road.

They were really going fast, except a few furious brakes thanks to uncooperative drivers, but the speed did not register in Danny's mind. A million different thoughts weaved in and out, kind of like how their car was weaving through traffic. _Haylie, Mac, Haylie, Aiden, Mac… _

Danny shifted in his seat and he felt an unfamiliar rustle in his jacket pocket. He put his hand into the pocket and pulled out a yellow piece of paper.

His heart wrenched in pain when he read its contents. It was the invitation letter to Haylie's kindergarten's singing competition. She was supposed to be at school right now… happily awaiting her turn to come on and sing.

Danny could see it in his mind's eye… Haylie coming onto stage, looking very nervous, her eyes searching the audience for her parents. Once she found them, Danny and Aiden will shoot encouraging smiles her way and Haylie will smile back, confidence renewed, the very same cheeky grin Danny has. She sings, looking absolutely beautiful with her dark curls and bright blue eyes.

Danny gripped the paper tightly and looked out the window. He did not want Mac to see the tears that were suddenly pooling in his eyes. Danny was surprised with himself. He hadn't cried for years. He didn't even cry when his father died when he was sixteen. And here he was, crying two days in a row…

Mac's voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts, and for once, in many days, his tone was light, almost friendly. Very unlike the angry tone he had been using on Danny the past few days. "Haylie taking part in a singing competition?"

Hastening to dry his eyes and hoping that his voice was clear, he answered, "Yeah… it's supposed to be today…"

Out of nowhere and totally unexpected, Mac's voice turned hard, "You lied to me, Danny."

Surprised at the sudden change, Danny asked, "What?"

Not taking his eyes off the road, Mac repeated, "You lied to me,"

Danny asked, "What do you mean?" although he had a pretty good idea what he meant. Here it is, the reason why Mac had been so royally pissed with Danny the past few days… what could it be?

"You know darn well why Tanglewood has taken your kid, don't you? This isn't just a random kidnapping."

Oh. That.

Danny inhaled slowly. Mac knew… Mac had found out about the past he tried to bury 10 feet underground…

"Sonny Sassone mentioned you in an interrogation. Remember the Paul Montenassi case awhile back? I did some digging and found out that you were doing more than playing baseball with the Tanglewood Boys."

Danny wasn't even going to ask what kind of digging did Mac do, instead, he said, "This is why you were angry at me this whole time?"

"You lied about not being in Tanglewood, Danny. 'I didn't want to get mixed up' were your exact words, I think." Said Mac, sounding spiteful.

Danny flared up, "Ok! Fine! So I went with them for awhile. There, I said it! Is that what you want to hear?" He took a deep breath. He hadn't admitted this to anyone in a very long time. Years.

"But do you think I had a choice? I was born into it. I said it before. All the father's were connected in Tanglewood. My dad was a Tanglewood Boy, his dad was a Tanglewood Boy. It was pretty automatic that I was to become one of them. I wasn't like you, Mac. Didn't ever have the courage to say no… and when I finally did, it was too late."

Danny stared out the window, but not really seeing anything. When Mac made no reply, Danny continued softly, "And because of me being too much of a coward, I put my family in danger. My wife is home worrying herself sick because of me. My daughter's life is in danger because of me. Tanglewood is angry that I quit. And now they are making me pay."

Mac slowly said, "I trusted you, Danny. I gave you the job even there were others who recommended against it. Now I know why. You broke that trust, Danny. You lied all about your involvement in Tanglewood… Look, I was disappointed when I found out, Danny. I-"

The two cars in front screeched to a halt outside the junkyard. Mac and Danny looked out the windscreen and saw a lone trailer parked in the middle of it.

Danny ha the last word, "Guess I'm a big disappointment after all, huh, boss." And he got out of the car.

* * *

All was quiet as the officers surrounded the trailer, guns drawn.

Flack stood by the front door, Danny and Mac behind him. Doubt was starting to creep through Danny's mind. It was too darn quiet… was a trap waiting for them inside? Were they at the wrong place? Haylie could be miles away… cold and scared…

Flack must have noticed Danny's sudden pale complexion because he murmured quietly, voice hardly a whisper, "We'll get her, Danny. We'll get her…"

Danny nodded but it sounded a lot like Flack was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Danny.

Flack knocked on the trailer door, "NYPD! Open up!"

No answer… Seconds seemed like hours to Danny, sweat dripping down his back. His ears were picking up every rustle of an officer shifting position, every short gust of wind but he couldn't hear anything coming from within the trailer. All he wanted was to hear Haylie… to know she is alive…

Flack nodded to an officer nearby, who was armed with a large battering ram.

The door burst apart in splinters and they rushed in, Flack leading. The moment they got in, the first thing that struck them was the silence. There was only one room in the trailer. And it was completely empty.

There was no sign of Haylie anywhere. Not even a single scrap of furniture. This trailer hadn't been used for years.

After doing an initial scan, Flack lowered his gun and said morosely, "Clear."

That's when Danny saw a tape recorder lying on the dusty floor. Brain still numb from the fact that they had just lost their only lead, he pointed at the recorder.

Mac slipped on a glove and pressed the play button.

"_So, Messer, we knew you could find us. But we are one step ahead. Haha… better luck next time… wait… there is no next time, is there?"_

Silence followed and Danny felt like something in him went 'snap'.

"Why did they have to take Haylie?" Danny yelled to his colleagues, "They could have just shot me instead. She's so young- WHY?"

"Danny, it's not your fault! If anyone's to blame, it's the Tanglewood Boys, not you!" Flack tried desperately to convince Danny.

"Don't you get it? It's my fault Haylie's missing. Maybe I shouldn't have quit them in the first place!" Danny snapped back. There, another person he just spit the truth out to. Two in a day…

Flack looked surprised for a second at this piece of news. But now wasn't the time to ask questions, "Danny, if what you say is true, then you didn't do the wrong thing, you chose the right path. Don't go blaming yourself for this!"

"Oh yeah?" Danny retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he spat out the words like venom, "Then why don't I see you- or anyone of you pat my back and tell me 'Danny, I've got your back?' Why don't I see you stand up for me or guide me?"

"Because it isn't true!" Mac spoke up after remaining silent for awhile. "Danny, I've always got your back-all of us do. I just want to get Haylie back safe and sound,"

"He's right, Danny. You can always count on us," said Flack with a small grin.

Danny's stony face softened, but only a little. He was still fuming inside.

"Oh? And what's that for?" asked Danny, "After all that me being a disappointment to you and-"

"Danny, do you remember Claire, my wife?"

"Yeah… but what does that have to do with this?"

Mac blinked back tears, "Danny, it's just that I've already lost a loved one, and I don't want to see you lose yours."

A tear trickled down Danny's cheek, "I just don't want to lose her, Mac. I'm sorry… about the whole Tanglewood thing… I promise, no more lies."

Mac just smiled, "Good to have you back, Danny. Good to have you back." And Flack gave Danny a pat on his arm.

About then, the tape recorder crackled to life again. There was something recorded on the other side…

They all stood still, listening…

TBC

Ok, review as always. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long this time.. hehe…

Kudos, MUAKS!


	5. The Bait

Disclaimer: Nothing's mine, never have been, never will be…

Ok, here's chapter 4… enjoy! Cos' Chapter 5 won't be coming for awhile, my exams are coming up… right now, I'm multi-tasking again… typing this while studying… ;-b

**4. The Bait**

They were all silent as the tape recorder reeled on, this time, it was a different voice from the previous side. This voice was nervous, his words rushed, coupled with heavy breathing. Whoever was speaking sounded scared…

"_Danny, your daughter is at the old abandoned building off 5th Street, you know, the Tanglewood hideout? I can help you get her back, but you have to come alone. This is important… COME ALONE… they are leaving her alone with me on the 23rd… come at 3 o' clock. Not a minute later. They can't know, alright? Come alone… Mitch"_

The recording stopped and Danny thought for a moment and said, "23rd… that's today…" He glanced at his watch. Noon… "I have three more hours."

Flack immediately voiced out, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down! You're going?"

Danny frowned as if any other option was purely unthinkable, "Of course I'm going! Haylie's there!"

"And you trust this Mitch guy? Whoever he is?" Flack argued.

"Mitch is a friend of mine… back in the day…" Danny's voice trailed off, then he added, "I trust him."

"Friend or no friend, he's with Tanglewood! Don't you think this is a trap? Why do you think he says 'come alone'? He doesn't want you to have any back up when they kill you!" Flack said.

"He said 'come alone' so that you all won't make a big commotion and let the Tanglewood Boys find out he snitched, ok? Tanglewood doesn't take kindly on traitors… I've been there…," said Danny, "We can trust Mitch."

Flack doesn't look the slightest bit convinced, "I grew up here too, Danny. Mob guys, whether young or old, don't change their spots. They're leading you into a trap!"

Danny looked at Flack flat on, "Look, my daughter is with them, ok? This is the only lead we have…"

Flack started, "But-"

"I thought you said you had my back." Said Danny bluntly.

Flack sighed, exasperated that Danny used that against him, "Damn right, I do! That's why I don't want you marching into the lion's lair! Unaided!"

Mac cut in before Danny could reply, "I think Danny should go. He only has this lead, he should follow it. If Danny trusts this Mitch guy, then we can trust him."

Danny was about to think what a wonderful guy Mac was until he continued, "But we'll be there."

Danny all but shouted, "Mac! He said 'come alone'! You all being there could make matters worse!"

"Us not being there could make matters even worse," Mac said steadily, then he added, from a distance, okay? You go in, we'll be around. They won't even know we're there."

Mac's eyes met Danny's which were staring back stubbornly hard at first. But after a moment, they flicked downwards defeatedly, "Alright."

* * *

At 2.20 in the lab, Mac searched the halls for Danny, wanting to go over the plan they devised earlier to get Haylie. Mac last saw a weary Danny in the break room, talking to Aiden, who had just come down from their home, and briefed her about all that happened. That was about half an hour ago…

Mac reentered the break room, and only Aiden was there, absentmindedly stirring a cup of coffee, looking extremely tired.

"Seen Danny?" Mac asked softly.

He could see the pain in her eyes, the pain and fear of losing a loved one. Mac once saw that look in his own reflection, moments after the towers went down, moments after realizing that Claire was in there, moments before he received the call, confirming Claire's death…

Aiden replied, "Yeah… he said he was going to see Stella."

Mac nodded and spent a good 10 minutes looking for Stella. Times like this, he wished he had a homing device that could tell him where all his CSI's were… He soon found her in one of the labs, "Seen Danny?"

Stella nodded, "Yeah, a while ago. He said he was gonna take the tape recorder to Chad."

Mack thanked her and went searching for Chad. He couldn't find him. He stopped one of the lab techs.

"Chad? It's his day off today…"

What? A trace of apprehension crept over Mac. Ok… so maybe Danny went to pass the recorder to another of the techs. He asked the lab tech, "Seen Det. Messer?"

"Uh… no, sorry…" with that, she hurried off.

Mac frowned. It was already 2.45. Danny had to know they had to get things planned, unless…

Flack ambled up, "Seen Danny? Hawkes said he was with you…"

"What? I haven't seen Danny since we got back here…" said Mac. Then it hit him. By leading everyone up the wrong path, Danny actually managed to buy himself a lot of time to get away unnoticed. He could have left over an hour ago… Smart. Too smart…

Mildly pissed that Danny actually fooled him, Mac said to Flack, "Get the squad cars. Let's go."

* * *

Danny parked his car outside the old, abandoned three-story apartment building, his heart thumping fast against his chest. He wondered vaguely whether the other realized he had gone or not…

He remembered this place all too well. Just standing outside it brings back terrible memories…

Danny knew that the Tanglewood gang had purposely chosen this place to keep Haylie in this place. They were mocking him… rubbing the damn apartment in his face…

_16-year-old Danny Messer stood in the dark and dusty room. He looked Antonio Sassone in the eye and said, "No more, Antonio… I've had enough."_

_There was a brief silence, then Sassone laughed. The other Tanglewood Boys standing around joined in. All except one, Mitch, the only friend he ever made in the gang. Together they had plotted all kinds of ways to get away from Tanglewood unscathed. _

_They never actually came up with the perfect plan, though…_

_Mitch was looking at him with a strange expression on his face, half pity, half admiration. No one had ever tried to get out of Tanglewood in years. No one was even sure it was possible… Once you had family ties to the Tanglewood Boys, you're in, no way out._

_And here was Danny, still going through initiation, he doesn't even have the tattoo yet, facing Antonio Sassone, one of the highest on the Tanglewood food chain. He had the finest bling, the finest coke, the finest chicks, everything. No one messes with a Sassone._

_Sassone raised his hand to stop the laughter. He then lowered it slowly, never taking his eyes of Danny's. "I'm serious, Ant… I want my life back. I quit."_

_There was a deafening silence, then…_

_POW! _

_Sassone landed a heavy punch on Danny's face. Sassone landed yet another one, causing Danny to fall to the dusty floor, with the taste of blood in his mouth._

_Antonio's son, Sonny, who was a bit older than Danny, came eagerly forward, along with two others, ready to land a hand. Mitch hovered unsurely in the back._

_Antonio stepped back and nodded at the three. Eyes glinting with eagerness, they moved in on Danny and started punching and kicking him all over._

_Danny couldn't see anything but the dusty floor, he could feel nothing but the blinding pain all over his body. He could hear nothing except for the painful thuds and cheers from the other boys… Danny thought this was surely the end… Maybe this was how his dad had died a few months back… the cops never told him what really happened…_

_Suddenly, a voice called out, "Stop!"_

_Danny recognized it at once, it was Mitch._

_The boys stopped hitting him and the room went quiet. Danny couldn't move, it was too painful. He could hear ringing in his ears…_

_Antonio turned to Mitch, "What did you say?"_

_Danny turned his head slowly to look at Mitch. But he couldn't see well at all as his glasses had gotten knocked off during the fight._

_He heard Mitch say in a strong but scared voice, "I said…"  
_

_But Mitch's bravery failed him. The next time he spoke, it was with surrender, "Nothing…"_

_Antonio laughed, "Wise."_

_Then Danny could see the blurry shape of Antonio coming up to him. Antonio bent down and yanked Danny's head up painfully by the collar._

_Antonio whispered in his ear, "You are in luck, Messer. I can't kill you today. If I do, more of my guys will go to jail and I'll be short-handed…"_

_He let go of Danny and stood back, "Stand up!" he demanded._

_Danny struggled to get up, despite the burning pain all over his body. He wanted to look Sassone in the eye, to show him that he was not afraid._

_Once he was upright, Antonio said, 'Now, get out."_

_Sonny Sassone immediately shouted, "But, dad-!"_

_Antonio barked back at him, "Stay out of this," He looked back at Danny, "Get out…"_

_Danny paused for a moment, then he headed for the staircase._

_Antonio shouted one last sentence that Danny could never forget, "Remember this day, Messer. It is the day you made the biggest mistake of your life. Just remember, one day, you'll be sorry you ever tangled with the Tanglewood Boys…  
_

And the day is here. They had gotten their revenge…

They stole the most precious thing in his life…

And now he was going to get her back.

TBC

Okay, like I said, the next chapter might take awhile, I wrote a small bit of it a long time ago, and I've forgotten where I put it… so gotta go try to dig it up now… :-b

Please leave a review! Muaks!


	6. Rescue

Disclaimer: Not mine, never have been, never will be.

Hahhahahahahahahahahahah!!! I haven't updated so long it's hilarious.

gets down on knees Oh, beloved readers, please forgive me! Hope you enjoy this chapter.

**5. Rescue**

Danny made his way slowly up the dusty stairs, his ears picking up every sound; the soft patter of his shoes meeting the cement, the thumping of his heart, his steady shallow breathing. All the sounds that people take for granted in everyday life, but now in this situation, they seem to Danny to have the impact of a Red Hot Chili Peppers live concert.

His hand brushed against the cold metal of his pistol in its holster and he wondered for the fifth time since he got here whether he should take it out.

'_Trust Mitch.' _He reminded himself again, _'He'll never do anything to harm you…'_

Nevertheless, there was always the annoying other voices in his head, Mac and Flack's voices. _He's a Tanglewood Boy… mob guys don't change their spots…_

'_But I did…' _thought Danny, and with a small snort, he added, _'And look where I am now…'_

He arrived at the top floor and glanced at his watch, 3 o' clock sharp. Right on time.

He looked around, there was no sound to be heard, no one to be seen. Danny wondered if he had been tricked.

_Haylie…I'll find you…_

A hand suddenly gripped Danny's shoulder, causing him to reel around, startled.

He came face to face with a guy he knew. Or at least he could identify. Mitch looked completely aged beyond his years. He was thin, his face was scruffy and unshaven, there were deep bags under his long dead eyes that once shined with alertness.

Influenced by drugs, booze and crime, the bright energetic teen Danny once knew was reduced to a fallen man. Could Danny have ended up like this if he hadn't quit the Tanglewood Boys? A criminal on the streets instead of the man he was now? A respectable job, friends who didn't think smoking grass was a fun afternoon hobby, a beautiful wife and precious daughter…

Mitch was extremely fidgety and agitated, "C'mon, hurry…"

He led Danny down the corridor, all the while looking this way and that.

"Is Haylie okay?" Danny asked desperately.

Mitch nodded impatiently, "Fine… fine… c'mon… hurry up!"

He led him to the last door on the corridor and swung it open.

"Haylie!" Danny yelled as he rushed past Mitch into the room. Haylie was lying on a rickety old bed, staring at the ceiling with red eyes from crying. A plate holding an apple and a can of soda lay at the foot of the bed, ignored.

The moment Haylie heard her father's voice, she leaped up and dashed towards Danny, her eyes dancing with joy at the sight of her father, "Daddy!!"

A wave of relief like no other washed over Danny as he bent down to reach her. He hugged her tightly, never wanting to let go, "Are you okay? I'm so sorry… I promise, after this, I'll never let you out of my sight, ever again…"

Haylie giggled. It was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard, "I'm sorry I took so long, honey…"

Haylie returned the hug and whispered softly, sounding almost like an adult as she said, "I knew you'll never leave me, daddy. Never,"

Danny smiled. He got her, safe and sound. It's over.

Suddenly, Haylie let out a gasp and Danny heard the sound of a gun barrel being clicked into place coming from directly behind him.

"That's it, Messer, up and at 'em… nice and slow…"

'_Damn…'_

Danny slowly let go of Haylie, who looked completely terrified. He stared into her eyes, trying to reassure her that everything will be alright, even though he wasn't really sure he believed that himself.

He stood slowly, his back facing whoever the owner of the voice was, "Now, turn around…"

Saying a quick and silent prayer, he turned.

TBC

Yeah, short, I know. I was thinking of finishing it off in one chapter, but it was too long that way. But I'll have the story finished over the next week, as school will be starting then and I want to finish this before the holidays are over.


	7. Capture

Disclaimer: Not mine, never have been, never will be.

Sorry for taking so long. As you probably know, the internet connection here in Asia sucks now, so it's been hard for me to get online to post this...

Review!

**6. Capture**

There were three new people in the room. All of them were grinning gleefully, like a predator that just cornered its prey. The guy in the middle was the one holding the gun at Danny.

Danny recognized all three of them. They were all Tanglewood Boys about the same age as him but Danny had forgotten their names.

"Good o' Messer… predictable like clockwork," sneered the guy with the gun, who seemed to be in charge, "Nice work, Mitch,"

Danny glanced at Mitch, who was cowering in the corner. Mitch shook his head desperately, "No! Danny… I swear I didn't!"

Danny felt angry alright, but the anger was directed at himself. Why hadn't he listened to Mac and Flack?

The leader grinned and threw the gun to Mitch, "Time to redeem yourself, buddy,"

One of the other guys grabbed Haylie and pulled her to the side, preventing her from running.

The leader grabbed Mitch's shaky arm and guided it to aim the gun at Danny.

"No…Larry…no…" whimpered Mitch.

A distant bell of recognition rang in Danny's mind. Larry Knight. A Tanglewood Boy only a year older than Danny. He was one of those who helped Sassone attack him when Danny quit.

"C'mon, Mitch. Prove you're one of us. Put a bullet in your buddy's head… as easy as that. Then we won't let out that you snitched on us… you won't have to suffer the consequences…"

Danny's legs felt like lead. He couldn't do anything. So Mitch had really been trying to help Danny. Not that any of that mattered at the moment…

Mitch hesitated for a second too long. Knight cursed loudly, "Damn it, you coward," he yanked the gun out of his grip, "You're next after Messer!"

For the third time in five minutes, the gun was pointed at Danny again, "I always wanted to see this moment, Messer. It's quite a bonus that I get to be the one to do this…"

Many things were running though Danny's mind. Where are they? Isn't this the time when help arrives? When Flack comes smashing through the door with a whole load of NYPD officers behind him? Or does that kind of thing only happen in books and TV?

Danny turned to look at his daughter. The man holding her had his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Her eyes had tears streaming down.

A four-year-old is never supposed to go through this. Danny blamed himself for it. He hoped that Haylie will be able to get away safely. He hoped that Haylie will forgive him.

If it was any consolation, the last thing Danny sees before dying is his daughter. He wouldn't have it any other way.

He suddenly thought of Aiden, 'I'm sorry…' he thought as he saw Knight's finger pull the trigger, 'I love you…'

Aiden's and Haylie's faces burst clearly into his mind. Out of nowhere, Danny felt the sense to move. He ducked to the floor as the loud bang of a bullet rang through the air, shattering the window behind Danny.

_I'm alive…_

Next thing he knew, the door slammed open and Mac entered the room, closely followed by Flack and to Danny's relief, Aiden.

Flack pointed his gun at Knight, "'Sup, pal? Don't need me to tell ya' what to do…"

Instantly, Knight dropped his gun and lifted both arms skywards. The other two guys did the same. Haylie immediately dashed to Danny's arms. Aiden joined them, tears in her eyes. Danny couldn't help but smile. They were back together. Finally.

Over Aiden's shoulder, he saw Mac give him a smile and a nod. A paramedic came in and took Haylie for a check-up. Aiden gave Danny a kiss and said, "I'm glad you're ok,"

Flack was handcuffing the Tanglewood Boys and Danny said jokingly, "Sure took you long enough to get here…"

Flack grinned and said, "Hey, it's your own darn fault we're late." He wasn't bothering with how roughly he was putting Knight's wrists together.

But when he got to Mitch, Danny said, "Wait… he didn't have anything to do with this. He was trying to help me."

Flack hesitated, then he lowered the handcuffs, "We'll still need to take him in for questioning." Mitch was still trembling soundlessly.

Danny went up to Mac, "I'm sorry…"

Mac shook his head and put a shoulder on the younger CSI's shoulder, "Nothing to be sorry for…"

Out of the corner of Danny's eye, he saw Mitch shove Flack away with unexpected strength. He then made a dive for Knight's dropped gun.

Before anyone could react, Mitch wrapped an arm around Aiden's neck and pressed the gun to her forehead.

Danny and Mac immediately raised their guns as Flack struggled to get up.

Mitch shook his head, "Uh-uh… put those down…"

Danny could have screamed, but all he could do was mutter numbly, "What are you doing?"

Mitch slowly walked to the door, dragging Aiden along with him, "One thing you learn in this gang, Danny? Trust no one…" He walked out of the doorway.

Then, he whispered to Aiden, "Shut the door,"

Trembling, Aiden did as she was told. She gripped the door knob and slowly pulled it shut.

All the while, her eyes were locked onto Danny's.

Although neither of them said a word aloud, they understood each other perfectly clearly.

_Be careful._

_Don't worry._

_I love you._

_Good bye…_

TBC


End file.
